New Jersey Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyers

In New Jersey. We have lawsuits with people who have the limitation on lawsuit, and people have no limitation on lawsuits. It’s easier to explain the no limitation on lawsuit to no limitation on lawsuit, which used to be called the no threshold is when a person elects to have no limitation on their right to sue for pain and suffering. And in New Jersey, we do call it an election. You need to allow that limitation or no limitation. That’s part of the application process. So if you elect no limitation on lawsuit, you can sue for temporary and permanent injuries with no restrictions and no requirements other than presenting a doctor’s report to explain what your injuries are. So you’re not restricted in any way.If you’re injured and want to bring a claim or a lawsuit with a limitation on lawsuit in your insurance policy, and that’s the election to sue for pain and suffering, a person has to prove one of six injuries to sue for pain and suffering, to get compensated for the pain and suffering of the injuries, death, loss of a fetus, dismemberment, which means loss of a limb displaced fracture, meaning the fracture goes all the way through the bone, significant scarring or disfigurement, meaning someone can see it from five or ten feet away. And it’s obvious. And then number six is permanent injury. Many cases and it’s in most cases in the car accident world, often are tried in the permanent injury category where the insurance company for the defendant or the defense firm is saying the person does not meet the requirements of a permanent injury in New Jersey. What does a permanent injury mean in New Jersey under the limitation on lawsuit? Permanent injury is defined as an injury that has not healed and will not heal with future treatment. And a doctor has to say that. And a doctor has to show that the injury is permanent with objective medical evidence, MRI, X-ray, CAT scan, some other diagnostic test.

When a person has lower limits of underinsured motorist coverage, which we call UIM in New Jersey, the person is restricted in his or her ability of going against his or her own insurance company for compensation for his or her injuries from the car accident when the other driver has a low policy under insured motorist coverage, meaning the other person doesn’t have enough coverage. And what a person is able to do when the other person doesn’t have enough coverage is you start with the amount you recovered from the driver who injured you and you can go from that limit up to the limits of your own policy and recover the difference versus $300,000 of underinsured motorist coverage. The other driver only has $100,000 of coverage and the injury is worth 4 to $450000. Recover from the defendant for $100,000. Then you go against your own insurance company for underinsured motorist coverage for the $200,000 additional coverage. In a situation where a person only has 35,000 or $50,000 of underinsured motorist coverage, you’re out of luck. You’re stuck with $100,000 from a drivers insurance company, even though your case is worth more and you’ve sustained severe and permanent injuries.

If a person has low PIP benefits or lower limits of PIP benefits in their car insurance policy in New Jersey, a person’s car insurance will only pay up to that limit. So, for example, a person is severely injured in a car accident and needs to have surgery 90 to 120 days after the accident. The person only has $15,000 of personal injury protection benefit. The car insurance company is going to pay up to the $15,000 and cease paying. So when the person needs a surgery, 90 to 120 days out person has to look at his or her health insurance or find financing for the surgery. If the person doesn’t have health insurance or a letter of protection, meaning the doctor will get paid out of any money that is recovered in the lawsuit. So if a person has limited PIP benefits, it really could hurt them in the lawsuit, meaning they’ll have to pay the doctor back more money or they may have to pay back their health insurance down the line if there is a right of reimbursement.

Uber accidents seem like a car accident, but they’re not. And they’re unique in today’s world. An accident when an Uber driver is regulated to the ride share laws of New Jersey. The first thing we have to say when we see someone is injured in an Uber or Lyft or rideshare accident was the app on because of the apps on or the app is off determines how much coverage is available from that driver. So it’s very important they have an understanding of the uniqueness of the coverage limits for an Uber driver. And Uber typically does not pay for medical bills from the car accident, which can also make it very tricky because in New Jersey, commercial vehicles don’t always have PIP coverage. They need to be taken out. And an Uber driver is not a private passenger car. It’s a car for hire the rideshare. So it kind of falls more in a taxi and limousine. So the coverages are different and we have to explore the coverage limits in detail. We have to find out what is going on with the driver and Uber or Lyft or the Rideshare. Were they engaged in the app or were they not engaged in the app? What prior history looks like and sometimes, if a case is worth more than the insurance limits provided to a driver, we have to look above that to see if Uber has additional insurance.

How much coverage you should have in your car insurance policy is determined by a few factors. What can you afford? Everyone has different spending requirements. Everyone has different budgets. Everyone has different income. I do believe that everyone should have certain minimum coverage limits in their policy because you need to have certain minimum coverage limits to protect yourself and protect your family. For liability coverage, I do believe that every person should have at least $100,000 of coverage if you injure someone else and they have a claim for paying and suffering and lost economic damages, you want to make sure you have $100,000, because if you have a smaller policy, you don’t want to make yourself subject to anything above your policy limits. What amount of coverage should you have for underinsured and underinsured motorist coverage? You typically cannot exceed the liability coverage when you have underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage. You really should have no less than $100,000 because if someone injures you and they do not have any coverage, you want to make sure you have a minimum of $100,000 to help yourself during your time of need. When you’re recuperating or recovering from your injuries. If you can afford more than that. I strongly recommend that you do so, and it will not cost you a significant amount of more money from your policy or your insurance company. How much coverage should you have for PIP benefits for your medical coverage? I strongly urge people not to make health insurance their primary in their car insurance, because if you’re in an accident, sometimes you need to pay the health insurance company back. There is no payback obligation when you have your medical bills paid for under the PIP coverage. And I tell you and I tell all my clients to take the $250,000, if you are involved in an accident and you are seriously injured. $250,000 of coverage will provide you with a lot of coverage for medical treatment. And if you need to have a claim for pain and suffering and you’re looking for compensation, medical bills will not need to be repaid or hopefully will not need to be repaid.

Everyone gets a declaration sheet as part of their insurance policy. It is at the front of the insurance policy. Most people don’t know what their coverages are and most people don’t know how to read the declaration page. The first thing you’re going to see is what is your liability coverage. That means if you injure someone else in an accident, how much will your insurance company pay for someone else’s injuries and compensation for economic losses? Then you go down and what is your own coverages? In New Jersey, we are a no fault state. And a no fault state means that if you’re in an accident in New Jersey involving a car, your own car insurance will pay for the property damage to your car and it will also pay for your medical bills. There will be on your declaration page a line for property damage. How much coverage do you have for physical damage to your car? That’s property damage. Then you get to what is personal injury protection benefits? That is the medical coverage in your car insurance. The other thing that’s important to know in your declaration page is underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. They’re two different things. Uninsured motorist coverage means what it says. If you are hit or you are injured as a result of an uninsured driver, they don’t have liability coverage. You look at your own policy. And when you look at your own policy, you determine what are my limits. Underinsured motorist coverage is if you’re injured by someone who doesn’t have sufficient coverage to pay or compensate you for your losses and injuries, you are allowed to look at your own underinsured motorist coverage to go from the limit of the defendant or the tort feeser or the wrongful actor up to your own underinsured limits. So the driver of the car has $100,000. You have a $500,000 underinsured motor motorist coverage claim and your total injuries and compensation are worth more than $500,000. You could look at your own car insurance for 500,000 -100,000 and get $400,000. That’s an example of how undercharged motorist coverage works. And the last part of the declaration page that’s important. Limitation on lawsuit or no limitation on a lawsuit. What does that mean? So it’s also known as a tort threshold. Some people call it the verbal threshold. Some people call it the limitation on lawsuit in New Jersey. If you have the no limitation on lawsuit, you can sue for personal injuries with no restriction for anything temporary and permanent. If, however, you have the limitation on lawsuit, which is a cheaper policy or the premium is less, if you take the limitation on lawsuit. Likewise, if you take the no limitation, it’s more expensive. What does it mean to have the limitation on lawsuit? Limitation on lawsuit means that you can only sue for pain and suffering or personal injuries if your injury satisfy one of six categories that is in the state law and they are death, dismemberment, loss of the limb, loss of a fetus, significant disfigurement or scarring displaced fracture, meaning a fractured bone goes all the way through or six where we see a lot of the lawsuits fought out, fought over in the courthouse. Permanent injury. What is permanent injury mean? It means an injury that has not healed and will not heal with future treatment. And it needs to be shown with objective medical evidence. So limitation on lawsuit makes it harder to sue for pain and suffering. And you need to know if you have that. And again, it will cost you more money to have no limitation. I do recommend it to people. I think it provides you with more rights. But I do understand it is more expensive and not everyone can afford it. And it’s up to you and your family.